News & Analysis
iPhone is 'Eye-phone' for surgeons in India
Kariyatil Krishnadas
11/20/2009 9:15 AM EST
It's not a feature Steve Jobs -- much less anyone -- could have envisioned, but pediatric eye (retina) surgeons in India and elsewhere say that when using tele-opthalmology to cure a disease called Retinopathy of Prematurity (RoP), they find the iPhone to be the best platform from both a security and features perspective.
"Some babies born underweight are likely to be affected by RoP, which though curable, must be acted upon in a matter of days to prevent irreversible blindness.
This is especially a problem in countries such as India and those of a similar socio-economic nature, where lack of adequate facilities, long distances, illiteracy and low accessibility to quality healthcare cause thousands of children to become blind every year," said Anand Vinekar, project coordinator and pediatric retinal surgeon at Narayana Nethralaya, an opthalmological institute based here.
Laboratory assistants take pictures of the retinas of prematurely born babies and transmit them via broadband to pediatric eye surgeons, who could be hundreds or thousands of miles away.
These surgeons, using iPhones, enlarge the images and using the iPhone's graphics capabilities determine whether the baby needs immediate help.
Comments
Peter Aleff
11/20/2009 1:05 PM EST
The software developers and doctors using this new technological means of detecting the early stages of ROP retinal damage are to be commended for their efforts. However, it would be so much easier to simply prevent the damage from occurring in the first place, by simply flicking a light switch. There is much evidence that the retinal damage is caused by excess irradiation
with the blue-violet wavelengths which are
particularly strong in the fluorescent lamps that are used in many intensive care nurseries. The still developing eyes of the premature babies are extremely vulnerable to this type of retinal damage. For a detailed documentation, see my web page
retinopathyofprematurity.org/01summary.htm.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter Aleff
prevent@retinopathyofprematurity.org
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skeffect
11/23/2009 5:17 AM EST
Why only iphone. It can be done using any phone of similar capability. If they are remotely located then the statement "transmit them via broadband" doesn't make much sense. Sending them over the network makes sense.
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Plavalli
11/24/2009 7:45 AM EST
On Peter Aleff's point - very few, if any of the children are treated at intensive care nurseries.
As for transmitting over broadband - USB broadband is the medium for transmission.
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